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Sabriel is a fantasy novel and book one of The Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix. It was recommended to me via Amazon’s bookstore on the Kindle Fire, I assume, because I had recently purchased digital versions of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books and some other fantasy stuff. I did my usual investigation into a recommended book, which is a few steps long and not unique to me, I suspect:

Look at the cover art. Is it stupid? Does it evoke any interest in me? – The answers were that it was not stupid at all and definitely made me interested.

Sabriel by Garth Nix

I adore the paint style of the cover artists (Leo and Diane Dillon). Did I judge the book solely on the cover? No, but I do that all the time and I’m usually right, so I could have stopped here and been happy. Take that, naysayers.

Read a few reviews on the Amazon website. The overall stars were pretty high, and, for the most part, people seemed to be into it. There was one review which suggested it was a great concept but poorly executed. This didn’t stop me because that sounds like something an idiot would say.

Download the sample and read it. I did this very quickly; the opening of the book tells the very interesting (but mysterious) story of the birth of our heroine and title character, Sabriel, and reveals the interesting career of her father, Abhorsen as well as gives us an enticing first look at one of the three primary geographic locations in which the story takes place: Death. It sold me; I bought the book as soon as I reached the final page of the sample and immediately read on. Continue reading →